Shuttle latch for the transfer table bale hooks on a bale wagon

ABSTRACT

A bale wagon adapted to unload successive bale tiers therefrom one bale at a time having a transfer table which supports the bale tiers during the tier formation and discharge, a cross conveyor for discharging the bales, bale hooks pivotally mounted with respect to the transfer table to engage and separate bales disposed on the transfer table to facilitate unloading, and a shuttle member engageable with the cross conveyor and actuated by movement thereof and operably connected to the bale hooks to cause movement thereof between bale engaging and retracted positions in response to movement of the conveyor.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Jerry W. Welker;

Donald M. Grey, both of Selma, Calif. [21] Appl. No. 828,865 [22] FiledMay 29, 1969 [45] Patented Oct. 5, 1971 [73] Assignee Sperry RandCorporation New Holland, Pa.

[54] SHUTTLE LATCH FOR THE TRANSFER TABLE BALE HOOKS ON A BALE WAGON 14Claims, 9 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 214/6 B, 214/85 R [51 Int. Cl ..B65g 60/00, B65 g 59/08 [50]Field of Search 214/6 B, 518, 519, 520,522, 8.5 B, 8.5 A, 8.5 F

[56] ReterencesCited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 3,385,456 5/1968 Snider 214/6B 3,448,879 6/1969 Van Der Laly 214/522 3,490,613 1/1970 Eggenmuller etal. 214/6 B 3,510,013 5/1970 Best 214/68 3,515,291 6/1970 Grey et a1..214/613 3,502,230 3/1970 Grey et a1 214/6 B Primary Examiner-Gerald M.Forlenza Assistant Examiner-Robert J. Spar Attorneys-Joseph A. Brown,John C. Thompson, James J.

Kennedy and George C. Bower PATENTEU OCT 5 I97! SHEET 1 OF 4 INVENTOR.RRY W. WELKER DONALD M. GREY BY A TO NEY PATENTEUBEI 5mm 3,610,440

sum 2 or 4 IMI'JN'Mm. JERRY W WELKER Hy DONALD M GREY SHUTTLE LATCH FORTHE TRANSFER TABLE BALE HOOKS ON A BALE WAGON BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION This application relates generally to bale-handling wagons andspecifically to a bale wagon which is capable of unloading hay balesfrom the wagon one bale at a time.

With the introduction of the automatic bale-handling wagon, of the typeshown and described in application Ser. No. 755,141, filed Aug. 26,1968, now Pat. No. 3,502,230 it was necessary to provide some meanswhich could be used in conjunction with the second, or transfer table,to adapt the wagon to unload bales one bale at a time, in addition tobeing able to automatically form a composite stack on the wagon anddeposit the entire stack on the ground, as shown by U.S. Pat. No.2,848,127, issued to Grey on Aug. 19, 1958. If the transfer table was tobe used both as a tier-forming support and tier-discharging support,then it was necessary to separate the upper bales in the tier placed onthe table during the discharge operation from the lower bales which wereto be discharged so as to assure that the bales would be discharged onebale at a time. The discharge means and the bale engaging and separatingmeans had to be synchronized to operate together in a simple butexpeditious manner to assure that the complete bale tier was dischargedone bale at a time without interfering with each other.

The transfer table, made well known by the Grey Patent (citedhereinbefore), was not adapted to function as a support means from whichthe wagon could be either loaded or unloaded. The Grey-type wagon wasadapted only to form a composite stack of bales by accumulatingindividual bale tiers on the transfer table and subsequently placingthem on the load bed. A so called second generation wagon, of the typehereinafter to be described, however, is adapted to do not only what theGrey wagon could do, but in addition, it is capable of single-baleunloading the bales from the transfer table. To accomplish this, thetransfer table was redesigned to accommodate a cross conveyor, adaptableas a discharge means, which would move two bales at a time transverselyacross the transfer table to the edge where they are discharged from thetable one bale at a time. When the transfer table is supporting a baletier for discharge, the bottom two bales of the tier will be removedfirst. However, it is necessary, in order to assure even flow of thebales from the wagon, to separate the upper bales of the tier from thebottom most bales so that the conveyor can move them. The separationshould last long enough to permit the last of the two bottom bales to beremoved from the table, then permitting the remaining bales to slidedown the inclined table so that the next two bales are discharged. Oncethe next two bales are ready to be moved by the conveyor, the remainingupper bales again need to be separated from the lower bales. Thisprocess must be repeated until all the bales of each bale tier aredischarged from the wagon.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the primary object of the presentinvention is to provide means to facilitate the unloading of a balewagon one bale at a time from the transfer table which will providesynchronous operation of the discharge means and the bale engaging andseparating means.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mechanism which isengageable with the discharge means and operatively connected to thebale engaging and separating means to cause actuation of thebale-engaging means.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism whichis capable of assuming two operable positions which will in turn causethe bale-engaging means to be moved from a first operative position to asecond operative position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a means to actuate thebale-engaging means which is operable in response to movement of thedischarge means.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from thecomplete description found within the specification and the appendedclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view withthe transfer table in its inclined position for single bale unloading;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing the bale hooks inthe position for engaging and separating the upper bales from thelowermost bales being unloaded;

FIG. 3 shows the underside of the transfer table illustrating theshuttle and the associated mechanism for actuating the bale hooks;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG.1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 4, butshowing the shuttle advanced to the position of latching the balehook-actuating lever in its position of raising the bale hooks and alsoshowing the chain hook released and the chain lug advanced to engage thebale indicated in dot-dash lines; and

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the shuttle taken as indicated by the arrows6-6 in FIG. 7;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the shuttle in its position in which the chainhook will be released from the chain as the shuttle moves to itsfurthest right hand position as viewed in the figure;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 88 of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a side view showing the chain hook in its released positionwith the shuttle moving to its furthest left hand position as viewed inthe figure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now specifically toFIG. I, a bale wagon 10 having a chassis structure comprised of a pairof fore-and-aft extending beams 16, only one of which is shown in FIG.I, is provided with a pair of wheels 12 only one being shown, whichadapt the chassis structure to move over the ground.

A receiving table, indicated generally by the numeral 150, is disposedat the forward end of the chassis structure and is pivotally mountedabout point 162 with respect to said chassis structure by means ofhydraulic cylinder 502 which is pivotally connected at 166 to thereceiving table and fixed to bracket 172 which is mounted on transverseframe members 70. As is well known in the art, a bale pickup means, notshown, directs bales from the field to the receiving table where theyare accumulated and then placed on the transfer table 200 disposed in anormally horizontal position, not shown, immediately behind thereceiving table 150.

The transfer table 200 is comprised in part of an L-shaped structure202, having a forwardly extending leg 204 and a rearward upwardlyextending leg 206. The legs 204 and 206 are disposed at right angles toeach other. The table 200 is pivotally mounted with respect to thechassis structure being pivotal about pins 208 which are mounted independing lugs 210, only one of each being shown. The forward end of thetable is provided with a transverse beam member 211 and the bed forms asupport means for bales having an upper surface 215. The transfer tableis pivoted upon actuation of hydraulic cylinder 508 which is pivotallyconnected to a load bed 250 at 216 and by the other end pivotallyconnected at 218 to rearwardly extending member 220, which is, in turn,fixed to the L-shaped member 202. When the second, or transfer table isdisposed in the single bale-unloading position, the inclined positionshown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the table is held in that position by supportmember 232 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The load bed, or load rack 250 is also mounted on the chassis structurein the normally inclined position shown in FIG. I. The bed 250 has aforward end portion 252 and forms a-support surface 254. The entire loadbed is also pivotal with respect to the chassis by pin 256 to rearwardlyand upwardly extending brackets 258 which are fixed by any suitablemeans to the longitudinally extending frame members 16. A pair ofupright fork members 296 are fixed to the rear of the load bed and a boxbeam 298 is fastened to the forward end 252 of the load bed 250 toprovide a suitable bearing surface for bales being single bale unloadedas will hereinafter be described in detail. A rolling rack 300 isadapted to travel in a fore-and-aft direction along the load bed 250 tosupport successive bale tiers as they are transferred to the load bedfrom the transfer bed 200. While not shown, the load rack is powerdriven in both directions so that it will move rearwardly as the wagonis filled and can be moved forwardly as the wagon is being unloaded onebale at a time.

More complete descriptions of the elements hereinbefore described may befound in copending application Ser. No. 755,141, filed Aug. 26, 1968.Since these particular elements form no part of the present invention adetailed description of their structure and operation have not beenincluded, except as to give a general overall operation of the balewagon.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-4 which will show the transfer bed and itsvarious components and mechanisms in greater detail. It will be seenthat a cross conveyor 350 forms a baledischarging means by which balesmay be discharged from transfer table one bale at a time. Bale engagingmeans 352 are also provided on the transfer table and are adapted to beoperated between a retracted position and a bale engaging and separatingposition so as to separate the upper bales of a tier of bales placed onthe transfer bed from the lowermost bales on the bed, as shown in FIG. 2of the drawings. The bale discharging cross conveyor 350 is comprised ofan endless conveyor chain 354 which rides over sprockets 355 and 356.The sprockets 355 and 356 extend outwardly from the side of the transfertable, as shown in FIG. 4, and are mounted for rotation with respect tothe table and in spaced-apart relation therefrom. The sprocket 355 isdriven by means of a motor 560 through a drive shaft 562. Sprocket 356forms an idler sprocket over which the conveyor chain is driven. Thechain is provided with a pair of paddle members 358 which are fixed tothe chain and extend upwardly therefrom. The paddles 358 are so disposedon the chain that the distance between the paddles is equal.

The conveyor chain 354 is adapted to ride in a groove 360 which isprovided in the surface 215 of the transfer table 200. In this manner,the actual chain of the conveyor is disposed slightly below the surfaceof the transfer table, only the paddles, which extend upwardly from thechain, being disposed above the surface 215.

The bale-engaging means 352 is comprised of a plurality of bale hookmembers 362 which are pivotally mounted with respect to the transfertable and are adapted to extend upwardly through the table and retractbeneath the table through; suitable openings 363. Each of the bale hooks362 are mounted in spaced-apart relation on rockshaft 364. The rockshaftis mounted beneath the surface 215 of the transfer table for rotationwith respect thereto, the rockshaft being disposed in bushings 366. Arock arm 368 is securely fastened to the rockshaft, by any suitablemeans, not shown, and the rock arm is, in turn, suitably operativelyconnected through a linkage mechanism to a rock lever 370. A link 372extends between the rock arm 368 and the rock lever 370 and is pivotallyconnected by each end thereto, as shown in FIG. 3. The rock lever 370 isfixedly secured by any suitable means at one end thereof to a swingableamt 374. A brace 376 extends between rock lever 370 and the arm 374 toform a more rigid link mechanism. Swingable arm 374 is pivotallyconnected with respect to the transfer bed means by means of a pivot pin378 which extends through a pair of spaced-apart lugs 380 and theswingable arm 374, as shown in detail in FIGS. 3 and 8 of the drawings.The rearwardly extending lugs 380 are, in turn, mounted to thetransverse frame member 211 of the transfer bed. When the arm 374 ismoved to the left side of the ap paratus from the full line shown inFIG. 3, to the broken line position, the lever 370 will move rearwardlycausing the rockshaft 364 to rotate in a clockwise direction (whenviewed from the right) raising the hooks 362 into engagement with thebales. As the rockshaft continues rotation the layers of bales abovethat layer which is to be discharged will be shifted upwardly andforwardly to the position indicated in FIG. 2. When the swingable arm374 swings from the broken line position to the full line position ofFIG. 3, the books will again be retracted and the bales held by thehooks will drop by gravity until the lowermost bales contact the edge ofchannel member 298, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The swingable arm 374 will be moved from the full line position to thedot-dash line position illustrated in the drawings by the conveyor, thearm being held in the broken line position by a latch mechanism 382.Upon release of the latch mechanism 382, best shown in FIGS. 3-5, theswingable arm will be rotated to the full line position by means of aspring 384. The latch 382 is actuated, or tripped, by the action of thepaddles 358 as they contact the trip am 386. When the arm 386 iscontacted it will pivot within the apertured lug 388, causing the latch382 to swing away from the arm 374 about pivot 390 by the action of thelink 392 which interconnects the latch 382 and the trip arm 386.

At one end of the swingable arm 374 is a conveyor engaging assembly 394.The conveyor engaging assembly is comprised of a hook member 396 whichis caused to be swung in engagement with the conveyor chain when the arm376 attains its full line position shown in FIG. 3, the hook being swungout of engagement with the conveyor chain when the arm 376 attains itsbroken line position shown in FIG. 3. Conveyor engaging assembly alsoincludes a shuttle 398 which is slidably engageable with the conveyorchain 354. Shuttle 398 is comprised of front and rear side portions 400and an interconnecting bite portion 402 whose lower surface rides uponthe upper surface of the lower flight of the conveyor, as illustrated inFIG. 4. The shuttle is also provided with an inwardly directing flangeportion 404 along the lower end of the side portions 400. The flangeportions are best shown in FIGS. 7-9. A pair of up wardly extendingspaced-apart lugs 406 are mounted on the bite portion 402 of the shuttleand a pin 408 is carried thereby. The hook 396 is joumaled about the pin408 and has an upwardly extending end portion 410. A switch means, orhookactuating assembly, is comprised of a pair of spaced-apart plates412 which are also joumaled about the pm 408. The upper ends of thespaced-apart plates 412 carry a stud assembly 414 about which isjoumaled a roller member 416. Extending through and to either side ofthe plates 412 is a pin, or shaft 418 which are connected by their outerends to L-shaped members 422 by springs 420. The L-shaped members 422are mounted on either side of the shuttle member side portions 400 beingsuitably held in collars 423.

In operation, the discharge means 350 and the bale-engaging means 352function as follows: the sprocket 355 is rotated by motor 560 and thecross conveyor chain is caused to rotate in the direction indicated bythe arrows in FIG. 3. Assuming that the paddles are in the positionshown in FIG. 3, and the books 396 are retracted, with the swingable arm74 in the position shown by the full line position shown in FIG. 3,movement of the conveyor chain will cause the arm 374 to move from thefull line position toward the dot-dash line position shown in FIG. 3. Asthe shuttle advances to the left side of the machine, the arm 374 willpass over the latch 382. Continued movement to the left will cause thehook 396 to be disengaged from the pintle 424 of the conveyor chain whenthe roller 416 contacts an abutment member 426 which is carried by thebed means and depends from the lower surface of one of the plates 215.While the shuttle is in the disengaged operative mode, the arm will notreturn to the full line position since it will be held in place by latch382 in the manner shown in FIG. 5. When the paddle contacts the trip arm386, the latch 382 will be released and the arm 374 will be swung towardits full line position. During this movement, the hook 396 will be heldfrom engagement with any of the pintles 424 since switch 412 will haveswung to an over center position, that is, that the springs 420 havepassed to the other side of the pivot pin 408, the upper end of the hookbeing in contact with the intermediate portion of pin 418. Thisrelationshipis illustrated in FIG. 9 of the drawings. When the arm 374reaches its full line position, the roller 416 will contact a crossshaft 430, which is secured to the underside of the transfer table inany suitable manner, forcing the switch away from its over centerposition. The pin 418 will move from engagement with the upper end 410of the hook 396 to engagement of the lower end. In this position, thehook will be forced downward by the springs 420 until it engages one ofthe pintles 424 traveling beneath it.

When the machine is being operated in its single bale-unloading mode,the tiers of bales are transferred onto the transfer table only when thepaddles 358 are in the position illustrated in FIG. 4. In this position,thebale hooks 362 are disposed below the bale hook openings 363 as thearm 374 has been released by the latch 382 immediately prior to theattainment of the position shown in FIG. 4. As motor 560 starts torotate the lower flight of the cross conveyor chain 354 will be moved tothe left of the machine carrying the conveyor engaging assembly 394 inthat" direction, in turn, causing the rockshaft 364 to rotate in such amanner that the hooks 362 will be projected upwardly through the slots363 so that they engage the larger of bales immediately above the lowestlayer, the engaged bales then being shifted upwardly to the positionindicated in FIG. 2. This shifting movement will take place before thepaddle 358 at the left-hand side of the machine will engage theleft-hand end of the lowermost layer of bales. Continued rotation of themotor 560 will cause the lowermost layer of bales to be discharged fromthe transfer table. After the first layer of bales has been discharged,the paddle 358 of the conveyor 354 will contact the trip arm 386 causinglatch 382 to be disengaged from the conveyor-engaging assembly,permitting the swingable arm 374 to be swung to the right by action ofthe spring 384, lowering the hooks beneath the slots on the table topermit the next lowest layer of bales to assume the lowest position.Continued movement of the chain will then cause the hooks to swingupwardly to again engage the next upper layer of bales and the paddle,which has just engaged trip arm 286, to then engage the left-hand end ofthe bales ready for discharge. After the last layer of bales have beendischarged from the tier of bales deposited on the second table, therolling rack 300 is advanced forwardly to deposit another layer of balesupon the second table for discharge as hereinbefore described.

To insure that the rolling rack cannot be advanced toward the forwardend of the bale wagon when the hooks are in their lowered position, alatch 432 associated with control means 546 prevents the motor 560 andthe rolling rack 300 from being driven at the same time. The latch 432holds the control means in its forward position, except when released bycontrol cable 434. The forward end of the control cable 434 isiconnected to one side of the rockshaft 364 by means of lug 436 which issecurely fixed to the rockshaft. The control cable will release thelatch only when the rockshaft 364 has been rotated to its full extent inthe counterclockwise direction, the hooks being disposed below thesurface of the transfer table 200. Once the latch is released, thecontrol means may be operated to shift the conveyor so that it will stopin the position shown in FIG. 4.

While this invention has been described in connection with a singleembodiment, it will be understood that this embodiment is capable ofmodification and that this application is intended to cover anyvariations, uses, or adaptations following, in general, the principlesof the invention and including such departures from the presentdisclosure as come within the known or customary practice in the art towhich the invention pertains, and as fall within the scope of theinvention or the limits of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A bale wagon having a chassis structure adapted for movement over theground, bed means on said chassis structure for forming and dischargingsuccessive tiers of bales,

means for discharging bale tiers from said bed means one bale at a time,means for engaging and separating bales on said bed means and meanscooperable with said discharging means for actuating said bale engagingand separating means, said actuating means comprising means engageablewith said discharging means, and link means interconnecting said meansengaging said discharge means and said bale-engaging means for actuatingsaid bale-engaging means.

2. A bale wagon, as recited in claim I, wherein said discharging meanscomprises conveyor means engageable with bales on said bed means andbeing driven transversely across said bed means.

3. A bale'wagon, as recited in claim 2, wherein said conveyor meansincludes an endless conveyor chain and a pair of paddle members equallyspaced apart on said conveyor chain, said paddles engaging bales on saidbed means for discharging said bales one at a time. i

4. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 1, wherein said means for engagingand separating bales comprises a plurality of bale hooks pivotallymounted beneath said bed means, for extension and retractionwith'respect to said bed means, and apertures in said bed means inalignment with said bale hooks, said apertures permitting upwardextension of said hooks with respect to said bed means.

5. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 1, wherein a latch means isprovided on said bed means and actuated in response to movement of saiddischarge means and said means engageable with said discharge meanscomprises a shuttle member having side portions and a connecting bightportion, hook means pivotally mounted with respect to said shuttle andselectively engageable with said discharge means and switch means onsaid shuttle engageable with said hook means and a member on said bedmeans having a first operable position for pivoting said hook means outof engagement with said discharging'means.

6. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 5, wherein said latch means isselectively engageable with said shuttle member and said switch has asecond operable position for pivoting said hook means into engagementwith said discharging means.

7. A bale wagon having a chassis structure adapted for movement over theground, bed means on said chassis structure for forming and dischargingsuccessive tiers of bales, means for discharging bale tiers from saidbed means one bale at a time, means for engaging and separating bales onsaid bed means and means cooperable with said discharging means foractuating said bale engaging and separating means, said actuating meansincluding means engageable with said discharging means and operablyinterconnected with said bale engaging and separating means.

8. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 7, wherein said discharging meanscomprises an endless conveyor and said means engageable with saiddischarging means comprises a shuttle member engageable with saidconveyor and adapted for movement with said conveyor from a firstoperative position to a second operative position.

9. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 8, wherein said shuttle member isprovided with a hook member pivotally mounted on said shuttle member andselectively engageable with said conveyor for moving said shuttle fromsaid first operative position to said second operative position, and aswitch engageable with said hook to place said hook in said first andsecond operative positions.

10. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 9, wherein a latch means isprovided on said bed means and is selectively engageable with saidshuttle when said shuttle is in said first operative position, saidlatch means being actuated by said conveyor to hold said shuttle in saidfirst operative position.

11. A bale wagon having a chassis structure adapted for movement overthe ground, bed means on said chassis structure for forming anddischarging successive tiers of bales, means for discharging bale tiersfrom said bed means one bale at a time, means for engaging andseparating bales on said bed means, and means cooperable with saiddischarging means for actuating said bale engaging means, said actuatingmeans comprising means engageable with said discharging means in firstand second operative positions for moving said bale engaging andseparating means to first and second operative positions.

12. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 1 1, wherein said baledischargingmeans comprises an endless conveyor chain transversely disposed withrespect to said bed means, said conveyor having a pair of paddlesdisposed thereon and equally spaced along said chain.

13. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 12, wherein said bale engaging andseparating means comprises a plurality of bale hooks mounted on pivotalrockshaft, said bale hooks being pivotal to a first operativebale-engaging position and a second operative retracted position bymovement of said conveyor chain. a

14. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 13, wherein said bale hooks aremoved to said first and second operative position by said meansengageable with said discharging means and linkage means connecting saidengageable means to said pivotal rockshaft, said engageable meanscomprising a shuttle selectively connectable to said conveyor chain tomove between first and second operative positions, said link means beingpivotally connected to said shuttle, said bed means and said rockshaftwhereby said rockshaft and said bale hooks are pivoted as said shuttlemoves from one position to the other.

1. A bale wagon having a chassis structure adapted for movement over theground, bed means on said chassis structure for forming and dischargingsuccessive tiers of bales, means for discharging bale tiers from saidbed means one bale at a time, means for engaging and separating bales onsaid bed means and means cooperable with said discharging means foractuating said bale engaging and separating means, said actuating meanscomprising means engageable with said discharging means, and link meansinterconnecting said means engaging said discharge means and saidbale-engaging means for actuating said bale-engaging means.
 2. A balewagon, as recited in claim 1, wherein said discharging means comprisesconveyor means engageable with bales on said bed means and being driventransversely across said bed means.
 3. A bale wagon, as recited in claim2, wherein said conveyor means includes an endless conveyor chain and apair of paddle members equally spaced apart on said conveyor chain, saidpaddles engaging bales on said bed means for discharging said bales oneat a time.
 4. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 1, wherein said meansfor engaging and separating bales comprises a plurality of bale hookspivotally mounted beneath said bed means, for extension and retractionwith respect to said bed means, and apertures in said bed means inalignment with said bale hooks, said apertures permitting upwardextension of said hooks with respect to said bed means.
 5. A bale wagon,as recited in claim 1, wherein a latch means is provided on said bedmeans and actuated in response to movement of said discharge means andsaid means engageable with said discharge means comprises a shuttlemember having side portions and a connecting bight portion, hook meanspivotally mounted with respect to said shuttle and selectivelyengageable with said discharge means and switch means on said shuttleengageable with said hook means and A member on said bed means having afirst operable position for pivoting said hook means out of engagementwith said discharging means.
 6. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 5,wherein said latch means is selectively engageable with said shuttlemember and said switch has a second operable position for pivoting saidhook means into engagement with said discharging means.
 7. A bale wagonhaving a chassis structure adapted for movement over the ground, bedmeans on said chassis structure for forming and discharging successivetiers of bales, means for discharging bale tiers from said bed means onebale at a time, means for engaging and separating bales on said bedmeans and means cooperable with said discharging means for actuatingsaid bale engaging and separating means, said actuating means includingmeans engageable with said discharging means and operably interconnectedwith said bale engaging and separating means.
 8. A bale wagon, asrecited in claim 7, wherein said discharging means comprises an endlessconveyor and said means engageable with said discharging means comprisesa shuttle member engageable with said conveyor and adapted for movementwith said conveyor from a first operative position to a second operativeposition.
 9. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 8, wherein said shuttlemember is provided with a hook member pivotally mounted on said shuttlemember and selectively engageable with said conveyor for moving saidshuttle from said first operative position to said second operativeposition, and a switch engageable with said hook to place said hook insaid first and second operative positions.
 10. A bale wagon, as recitedin claim 9, wherein a latch means is provided on said bed means and isselectively engageable with said shuttle when said shuttle is in saidfirst operative position, said latch means being actuated by saidconveyor to hold said shuttle in said first operative position.
 11. Abale wagon having a chassis structure adapted for movement over theground, bed means on said chassis structure for forming and dischargingsuccessive tiers of bales, means for discharging bale tiers from saidbed means one bale at a time, means for engaging and separating bales onsaid bed means, and means cooperable with said discharging means foractuating said bale engaging means, said actuating means comprisingmeans engageable with said discharging means in first and secondoperative positions for moving said bale engaging and separating meansto first and second operative positions.
 12. A bale wagon, as recited inclaim 11, wherein said bale-discharging means comprises an endlessconveyor chain transversely disposed with respect to said bed means,said conveyor having a pair of paddles disposed thereon and equallyspaced along said chain.
 13. A bale wagon, as recited in claim 12,wherein said bale engaging and separating means comprises a plurality ofbale hooks mounted on pivotal rockshaft, said bale hooks being pivotalto a first operative bale-engaging position and a second operativeretracted position by movement of said conveyor chain.
 14. A bale wagon,as recited in claim 13, wherein said bale hooks are moved to said firstand second operative position by said means engageable with saiddischarging means and linkage means connecting said engageable means tosaid pivotal rockshaft, said engageable means comprising a shuttleselectively connectable to said conveyor chain to move between first andsecond operative positions, said link means being pivotally connected tosaid shuttle, said bed means and said rockshaft whereby said rockshaftand said bale hooks are pivoted as said shuttle moves from one positionto the other.